Jean learned to read at age six, like most people, though it wasn't easy for her. She never did get the hang of writing, and her math skills were a bit limited. After paying for their daughter to have a year and a half of therapy with a Fruedian psychiatrist, her parents heard about what were then called "Perceptual Handicaps". They got her to a local doctor, who was one of the few diagnosing children.
Jean spent the Friday after Thanksgiving 1963, with a bunch of electrodes attached to her scalp, having an E.E.G. That was how her parents found out that her brain doesn't work like most people's.

As with any disability I learned to live around it. I never did learn to write legibly. (And if I could have, believe me I would have.) I type everything. I can do basic math, but I do better if I do it out loud. I'm probably not the only person who talks to herself when she does her taxes. I graduated from a first rate prep school, and Ohio University. It wasn't easy. But then neither is dialing a telephone if you're me.
The disability is real. I could NOT do it if I really tried. You would be surprised at some of the things I have really tried to do. I read. I read a lot, though I read slowly. I think because I was read to a great deal, I got the idea that books were good things and I wanted to know what was in them.
I still remember the first thing I read on my own, a Yogi Bear comic strip, and the delight in discovering that the funnies were mine.
Most schools have gifted programs for smart kids. Odd that the writer doesn't mention that.